Poll: Obama gains young voter favor

Even as President Barack Obama’s overall approval rating tumbled in recent weeks, his ratings among young adults — especially those at four-year colleges — have shifted upward, a new poll shows.

In a national survey of Americans, ages 18-29, conducted by Harvard’s Institute of Politics, 55 percent said they approve of the president’s job performance, up 6 percentage points since October. And among college students, Obama does even better, with a 60 percent approval rating, up 9 points from the fall.

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When asked whether they plan to vote for Obama in 2012, though, they’re less sure. Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed (and 43 percent of college students) say they will, while 25 percent (and 30 percent among college students) say they will vote for his Republican opponent. The rest are unsure and, perhaps, looking to be swayed.

“As the 2012 presidential primary and caucus season draws closer, young people will again have the opportunity to greatly impact the race for the White House,” the institute’s director, Trey Grayson, said in a statement. “Political campaigns which incorporate an effective youth outreach strategy will have a strong advantage in the 2012 cycle.”

The improvement in the ratings signals a marked shift from the disaffection coming from young voters who think Obama has failed to follow through on his idealistic campaign promises.

Enthusiasm about Obama’s message of “hope” and “change” (or opposition to it) drew students and other young adults to volunteer for political groups, to register to vote and to head to the polls on Election Day. And, in 2008, nearly 70 percent of voters 29 and younger voted for Obama — the highest share of youth votes ever to go to any one candidate, according to exit polls.

Of those surveyed by Harvard, 80 percent said they have a Facebook account. Among college students, 90 percent use the account. Facebook friend statuses were second only to major national newspapers in sources that young adults said they would be interested in turning to for information about the 2012 campaign.

Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty, a former governor of Minnesota, said last week that he is angling to draw in young voters and thinks he can capture them from Obama. He announced the formation of his exploratory committee on Facebook, and has appeared on “The Daily Show.”

“President Obama is going to help us (get the youth vote) because a bunch of people that voted for him last time feel duped, and they aren’t going to sign up again for Dupe Version Two,” Pawlenty told the student newspaper at Vanderbilt University. “The excitement around his rhetoric that has now soured into the reality of his, in my view, flawed leadership, is now evident for all to see.”

The national issue young adults are most concerned about is the economy, the Harvard poll found. Fifty-seven percent said it is the top issue for them, while health care trailed in second at 10 percent. In October, 53 percent said the economy was the most important national issue.

Young adults, the poll indicated, are pessimistic about the U.S. role in the world, with 31 percent saying its standing will be worse 10 years from now, and 23 percent saying it will be better.

The poll surveyed 3,018 U.S. citizens ages 18-29 from Feb. 11 to March 2. The error margin is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.